The accused told the jury she tried to leave Mr Athukorala several times, but he managed to convince her to stay.

Liyanage said she remained distressed and confused about the relationship and at one point planned to inject herself with a vial of Suxamethonium, a medication that can stop a person breathing."For the first time in my life, I wanted to kill myself," she said.

The trial has previously heard from Liyanage's lawyer that she was forced into sexual acts with other women by her "controlling" husband.

Liyanage said she lost her virginity to Mr Athukorala in Sri Lanka before they were married, and traditionally she would have struggled to find another man to marry.

Chamari Liyanage, 35, is standing trial for allegedly killing fellow doctor Dinendra Athukorala while he slept at their Geraldton home, 400 kilometres north of Perth, in 2014.

In her first appearance as a witness during the trial, Liyanage told the jury her husband regularly had affairs and encouraged her to do the same, but she resisted.

A doctor on trial in Western Australia for murdering her partner with a mallet has told a Supreme Court jury her husband actively encouraged her to have affairs.However Liyanage said Mr Athukorala convinced her to throw the vial away after telling her he loved her and promising he would change his ways.The jury was told last week that once the couple were married and moved to Australia, Liyanage felt so "trapped" she tried to drown herself at the Geraldton foreshore. You become friends with the sexy co-worker and decide to carpool to work together. You're married, or engaged, or you're in a committed relationship. All those tingly feelings and the fantasies that perhaps a "perfect love" can really exist isn't destiny knocking -- they're caused by "love chemicals" in your brain.You become "friends" with an ex on Facebook and reminisce about the past. You spend hours thinking about them and your heart races whenever you see a text from them. You tell yourself it's ok because you're not really cheating, you're just chatting. Biochemical research has shown that the effect of these love chemicals is twofold: they are released in response to your friend, and they bond you to him or her.